


Six Seasons and a Callback

by Nevros



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-13 08:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2144484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevros/pseuds/Nevros
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff felt a sinking in his gut as he stood in front of half the school, all waiting for his answer.  </p><p>Minutes before they had all been drinking spiked punch (courtesy of Duncan) and dancing the Fat Dog.  Now they were only staring, like a jury casting it's judgment.</p><p>Five years ago he had been in the exact same position; except last time had been much more flattering.  Two beautiful women had confessed their love to Jeff Winger, and he was left to stand awkwardly in the middle of the dance floor with a mic in his hands and all eyes on him. </p><p>But this time, even though he was in a very similar situation, he felt much smaller, his classic Winger Charm nowhere to be found.  It might've been because his pursuers were much more rabid than they were in his freshmen year, or because of the huge Disney eyes that had him in a death grip, and refused to let go.</p><p>Damnit Annie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written as the finale to Community's sixth Season. I came up with this idea that I'd love to see as an actual episode of Community, so I decided to write it as a fanfic.
> 
> I'm open to suggestions and criticisms for this crazy fic. And I'm also looking for a Beta for future chapters.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Community in any way. Dan Harmon can use this. Unicorns are real.

Jeff felt a sinking in his gut as he stood in front of half the school, all waiting for his answer.

Minutes beforehand, half of Greendale's students were carelessly wasting away their lives at a community college prom. Now they were only staring at him, like a jury casting judgment.

Five years ago he had been in the exact same position; except last time had been much more flattering. Two beautiful women had confessed their love to Jeff Winger, and he held all the cards, with all eyes on him.

But this time, even though he was in a very similar situation, he felt much smaller, his classic Winger Charm nowhere to be found. It might've been because his pursuers were much more rabid this time than they were in his freshman year, or because of the huge Disney eyes that had him in a death grip, and refused to let go.

Damnit Annie.

*************************************************************************

That morning had started out like any other. The coffee in the teacher's lounge was god awful, the printer was out of toner, and his law class kept on asking about when he would grade their papers. In response to that, Jeff used his teacherly wisdom to advise they pursue a career in stand-up comedy instead.

He looked forward to the Committee meeting, especially since he missed the last one due to students rioting outside his office... again.

The Save Greendale Committee was really more of a formality now that the school was no longer required to give students hazard pay just for attending. But it was always his study group, his family first. And he savored every moment with them.

He arrived late as always, even though he had nothing better to do beforehand than sit in his office playing fruit matching games on his phone. But the atmosphere was a little off today. Duncan, Annie, Shirley, Chang, Troy, Abed, and Britta were there like always. But the blinds on the other side of the room were closed, and the Dean was present as well. Weird, he usually waited until a situation was going well to ruin it. And they all seemed apprehensive, not speaking, giving Jeff a weird look that said they were trying to act normal, even though something was definitely off.

“Is this an intervention or a really badly done surprise party?” He attempted to lighten the mood.

“A little bit of both actually.” Abed retorted and Britta shot him a death glare. Jeff rose an eyebrow, but didn't respond.

Nonetheless, He went around the table greeting everybody. It was a trend he had started recently in an attempt to get back to the good old days. He received several fistbumps, shook a few hands, did whatever his weird “handshake” with Abed was, and avoided the Dean's hug.

But he was still unable to get the one response that he had been looking for when he tried to catch Annie's eye as he said, “Milady.”

As always, she busied herself with her papers while muttering a half-hearted “Hi Jeff...”

Not letting it get to him, Jeff took his seat.  There were a few uncomfortable seconds in which everyone just stared at him.

“Alright, sue me; I went to McDonald's. Even though I may look like a god, from time to time I crave greasy french fries just as much as you mort-

“This isn't about you going McDonald's Jeff!” Everyone was taken aback by the amount of frustration in Annie's voice voice and sat silent for a few moments. Something is definitely wrong here.

She took a moment to compose herself before continuing. “In fact, we have good news. Right Dean?” She looked flustered and nervous, but was obviously trying to hide it.

“That we do Annie!” The Dean clapped excitedly and put a hand on Jeff's shoulder. “Tonight is the final dance of the year, and I decided to go with a prom theme. So there's going to be an election for prom King, and you Jeffery, have been nominated!”

There is an awkward and unsure round of clapping around the table while Jeff just sat, dumbfounded. “What?”

“Don't worry Jeffery. Naturally, there will be other contestants. But it's really just a formality. Everyone knows you're going to win.”

“You know I'm a teacher, right? I'm pretty sure one of the universal rules of being a Prom King is that you have to be a student.”

“Semantics Jeffery, semantics.” The Dean responded. “But I haven't even gotten to the fun part yet. As the Prom King, you will have the wonderful opportunity of picking your Prom Queen!” Ooo's and ah's were heard from the others around the table. “However, I talked to the committee when you were out the other day and it seems you don't currently have a special someone in your life.”

Jeff groaned.

“Don't worry. All of us go through a phase where we're single... even though the right person has been there all along.” He quickly muttered the last part and Jeff rolled his eyes. “But do not fret! Abed has come up with a way to help. Care to explain, Abed?”

Abed stood. He had the gleam in his eye that always showed whenever he was doing something high concept, overly meta, and devious. Crap.

He started talking as he walked towards the window on the opposite side of the study room. “Seeing as you are currently going through what some call a dry spell and that you require a significant other by tonight, I took the liberty of gathering potential mates from your past... and your phone.”

Jeff caught Annie looking at him. She mouthed the words, “I'm sorry.”

Abed opened the blinds, revealing at least twenty women whom Jeff recognized, all staring at him with hungry, crazed eyes.

Jeff stood up and backpedaled in shock. “WHAT THE HELL ABED?”

He continued anyways, this time talking into a megaphone. “Prepare to reacquaint yourself with”, he went down the line, pointing to each woman, “Professor Slater, Quendra with a Q U, Pierce's Step-Daugter Amber, Mark's Mom, Sabrina, Car wash Redhead, Busty Gym Blonde, Mommy,” he gave an eyebrow wiggle and a pervy look with that one, “and about a dozen other nameless women whose numbers were in your phone. The point is, I invited them here for a little game. The goal is to become your Prom Queen, by any means necessary. The winner has been promised a Happily Ever After with Jeff Winger, as well as a limited edition, in box, mint condition, first run action figure of the original Inspector Spacetime, valued at over TEN..... THOUSAND.... DOLLARS!” He had gone into full on announcer mode, and the contestants were all cheering and beating on the window.

Jeff was genuinely freaked out now. “You guys can't be serious.” He looked around the table. The group's expressions ranged from sympathy, to self-righteousness, to intrigue, to sadistic laughter. “You're all in on this?”

Britta was the first to speak. “As a therapist, I think this is a good chance for you to come to terms with your past so you can move forward.”

“There was no past to deal with until you brought it here!” Jeff yelled back.

Duncan interjected, “Then that means Britta is doing a marvelous job as a therapist. When there are no problems, create one so your patients will keep coming and you can keep getting paid.”

Then Troy chimed in. “I'm jealous of you man. Why is Jeff always the one to get mauled to death by adoring women?”

“I would say these women need Jesus, but I'm pretty sure even he wouldn't want to deal with that.” Shirley said, wary of the women.

Chang jumped up. “And you people call me crazy.  I'll be in the vents, with my front-row seat to all the crazy.” He ran off.

The dean leaned closer to Jeff's ear and whispered, “I have this beautiful prom dress Jeffery, and I've been dying to-” Jeff shoved him away before he could continue.

Annie just hung her head.

Abed took the floor again. “Will Jeff be able to face his past? Who will be his Prom Queen? Find out in this episode of PROM KING MANHUNT!” The horde of women went wild behind the window.

Jeff tried to give Abed his most intimidating look. “Abed, stop with your meta-bullshit. I never agreed to any of this!”

Abed continued to ignore him and play announcer to the contestants. “To be fair, Jeff gets a thirty second head-start! And he'll want to take full advantage of it. I've had over seven psychotic breakdowns on campus and I still think you're all crazy.”

“Abed, I-”

Abed moved towards the door which the the mob was currently beating on, trying to reach their prize. “Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight.”

Jeff realized he was out of options, and he did not want to be at the mercy of twenty of his crazy exes. He looked to Annie again for a moment, now understanding the sympathy in her eyes. Then he practically lept out of study room and started running down the hallway like his life depended on it, which it probably did.

In the distance he heard, “Let the games... BEGIN!”

Screw you Abed.


	2. Act Two

Jeff hastily shoved all his belongings into his bag. He needed to hurry to his car and get out of this place. He knew crazy when he heard it. And at the moment, it sounded a lot like angry women tearing apart the school looking for him. Did Abed drug them or something?

Basically his only standard for the personalities of the women he hooked up with was that they wouldn't stalk and/or murder him. But apparently he wasn't the best judge of character.

He turned to exit his office, but stopped in his tracks when he saw what stood in his way.

Alan.

“Long time no see Winger!” Alan stepped into the room. He walked up to Jeff's desk, sat on it, and picked up a picture that was sitting on it. It was of him teaching his law students. “I see you're even worse off than when we last met.”

Jeff snatched the picture from Alan's hands with a scowl. “Get your hands off that.” It was a picture Annie took of him during one of his classes. He carefully set it down where it had been moments before.

”Jeff, was that you being... sentimental?” 

He didn't respond. 

“Over a year ago, you were ready to bring this school to its knees so you and your friends could have a bit of pocket change. Now look at you. You're a teacher. Even worse, you seem to be proud of it. Tell me, when was the last time you-”

Jeff cut him off. “What do you want?”

“I want to give you one last taste of the good life. I heard a bunch of broads are intent on making you their bitch so they can score ten thousand big ones, and I'm here to help.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

“It's simple. All you have to do is let one of those hounds win, get married, divorce her, and take the money. With me as your lawyer, and these women crazy as bat shit, it'd be no problem.”

“Alan-”

“If I were you, I'd pick the teacher with the smoking hot body; nail her a few times before the divorce.”

“Alan, walk away. I don't take advantage of people like that anymore.”

“Those don't sound like the words of someone who would trick his 'friends' into suing their own school.”

“If you had stuck around long enough, you would've found out that I didn't go through with it. It only took a small taste of my old life for me to figure out that I never want to go back.”

Alan threw his hands up in mock defeat as he backed away. “Alright, after you get eaten alive, I'll be sure to be the one writing your eulogy. 'Jeff Winger, a shark who befriended minnows, died as a bitch of the food chain.'”

He poked his head out the door. “Oooo, is that your doom I hear marching down the hallway? Better hurry, Sharkbait.”

Shit. Jeff grabbed his stuff and shoved past Alan out the door.

****************************************************************************** 

Annie walked down the hallway. It had been torn apart. Posters were scattered everywhere, pictures had been knocked off the walls, a door had been ripped off it's hinges, and on the wall was spray-painted “THERE'S NOWHERE TO HIDE.” She felt like she had stumbled into a horror movie, but she still had to find Jeff.

“Jeff, are you there?” She whispered, “It's Annie”

She continued down the hallway for a bit until she heard her name whispered out of seemingly nowhere.

“Annie?”

“Jeff?”

“Annie?”

She looked around, but couldn't find where the sound was coming from. “Alright this is creepy. Who's there?”

Suddenly a trashcan standing against the wall started to shake and Jeff's head poked up through the top. “Annie! Over here!”

“Jeff!” Her expression brightened as she walked over to his hiding spot. ”What are you doing in a trash can? I know things have gotten crazy, but I wouldn't have expected you to be this desperate.”

“Well, I was cornered and I needed a hiding spot where no one would expect me to be. Some place that requires no shame or self-respect. So I thought, 'Where would Troy and Abed hide?' And it looks like it worked.”

“Jeff! That's totally un-... Well I guess it's fair.”

“Glad you agree. Now would you mind helping me out?”

“Of the trash can?”

“Not yet. I can't risk being seen.” Jeff looked around the hallway. “There, the janitor's closet.” He pointed to a door on the other side of the hall. “Drag me in there.”

“Jeff,” she looked incredulous, “How do you expect me to do that?”

“Are you calling me fat?”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Ugh, no. Fine.” She gave the trash can a tug, moving it about an inch.

“Put some back into it Edison.”

Annie smacked his forehead through the trashcan's opening. He smirked back.

She continued laboriously pulling the trashcan across the hallway. At one point she got on the ground and started pushing it with her shoulder.

When they had almost made it to the janitor's closet, they heard the clicking of heels coming from a nearby hallway.

“Crap, hide!” Annie said as she tried to look casual. Jeff disappeared into the can.

Professor Slater, Amber, and two other women turned into the hallway. Amber picked the locked doors to search the classrooms, while the others searched every nook and cranny. After a few minutes, Slater noticed Annie standing next to a trashcan in the middle of the hallway, undoubtedly looking suspicious.

Slater began speaking as she walked towards Annie. “You. You're one of those people from Jeff's study group right? What are you doing with that trashcan?”

Annie pretended to be offended. “Not that it's any of your business, but I'm taking it in for maintenance.”

“Maintenance?” Slater didn't sound convinced.

“Yes, maintenance. And what do you mean, 'those people?' Are all Jews trashcan fanatics now? Are you calling us trashy? You know who else thought Jews were trashy?”

“No! I didn't...” Slater looked indignant. “Fine, continue with your 'maintenance'.”

“I will.” Annie put on a triumphant air and continued dragging the trashcan across the hallway.

Once the women had passed and they had safely made it to the janitor's closet, Jeff struggled out of the trashcan.

“Nice save there.” Jeff said as he dusted himself off. “Though be careful; you came dangerously close to pulling a Britta with the Hitler reference.”

“You're welcome.” Annie said as she slumped against the wall, out of breath.

Jeff pulled out two folding chairs, motioned for her to take a seat, and did so himself.

They sat in the silence for a long, thoughtful moment until Jeff spoke. “You know, this is not how I thought today was going to go.”

Annie looked away. “Well, you never know what's going to happen at Greendale.”

“Not only that, but this place seems to be intent on forcing me to deal with my problems. It's like being in purgatory. All of my exes just show up and start hunting me in my own school. Not only that, but I also ran into Alan.”

“Alan?” Annie said, ”your sleezy ex-lawyer-partner? What did he want?”

“He offered to be my lawyer, so that I could marry one of the women who are after me, then divorce them, and take the ten thousand dollars from Abed's action doll. It's strange. Every time things get bad, Alan shows up tempting me to return to my previous life. He is literally the devil.”

Annie looked at him intently. “What did you do?”

“I told him to go to hell. It's ridiculous. I would never stoop so low for some cash and an easy out.”

Annie released a breath she had been holding. “Thank god... Good thing you showed him you're not that type of person anymore.”

Jeff leaned forward and looked her in the eyes. “But what's scary is that I used to be. I used to be the person who would ruin lives so I could live in luxury, and I was proud of it. I used to be just like Alan, worse than Alan actually. And I used to date women like those who are currently ripping apart the school to find me. I'd like to believe that I had better taste than that. But I didn't. They treat love just like I used to, like it's a game, and Abed's 'competition' really made that obvious.”

Annie stared at her feet.

He leaned back in his chair, holding out his hand as if there should be a glass of Scotch in it. “Looking back, it was pretty terrible living like that, living a lie, trading hurt, manipulating women to get what I wanted and so I could collect more trophies. I even used to think of having sex as a 'victory', like it was nothing more than winning a game. And whenever I actually had feelings, I wouldn't admit it because I was afraid it would make me weak. It was... It was a really empty way to live.”

Jeff paused, and his face grew solemn as realization dawned on him. He looked directly at Annie again, even though she was looking to the side.

“Annie.”

Hearing the seriousness in his voice, she looked at him again, his gaze locking with her own. They shared a moment just looking into each others' eyes, as if that could say everything.

Then Jeff broke the silence with three simple words. “Annie. I'm sorry.”

Annie was taken aback. “For what?”

He leaned forward again, closer to her. “I'm sorry for how I've treated you, for not owning up to how I feel, for dismissing you, for being a general ass. What has gone on between us is too confusing and messed up to put into words, and I've used that as an excuse to not deal with it.” He paused for a second, surprised that he was saying these things. ”But now I'm going to be honest to you, and to myself. I still don't know what's going on, but I know you deserve better. So Annie, I'm sorry, for everything.”

Jeff sighed, as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and he just looked at Annie.

Tears began to well up in her eyes and she had a kind of soft, genuine smile that he had only seen from her a few times. She wasn't crying, but Jeff could see that what he said really meant a lot to her.

She then leaned over and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. She melted into him and he softened upon her touch, lowering his head to rest against it hers.

There was nothing lustful or awkward about it. It felt truly intimate, like they had actually connected for the first time. They stayed like that and time seemed to stand still.

Eventually Annie pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes. “Jeff... I'm sorry too. This thing with the your exes... It's gone too far...”

Jeff tried to process what she had said. “Wait what?”

Annie looked like she was about to explain, then the door to the hallway burst open.

Jeff was scared to death that he had been found by his exes. But it turned out to be Abed, pointing to his phone. On it was a satellite view of their location, along with two blinking dots, which were presumably Jeff and Annie.

He spoke, “Save it for the finale you two. We've gotta go.”


End file.
